Milepoint

Even if you are skeptical of panhandlers, it’s difficult to turn away from those who claim to be in need – particularly when they have a good story and seem sincere. People like Grandmax4 for instance, who posted about her dire straits on Milepoint.

With fall in the northern hemisphere just around the corner, and winter arriving not long behind that, it’s a fair bet that this summer’s viral sensation – the Ice Bucket Challenge – might soon be nigh. But not before the travel execs get in on the fun.

A few weeks ago Hilton announced a new mobile check-in option for guests that promises to enhance and advance the check-in process. But Marriott has offered mobile check-in since 2013. The only problem is, it isn’t entirely clear to Marriott guests what benefit checking-in mobilely provides.

Over on Milepoint travelers are listing cities they wouldn’t want to visit and the reasons why. Believe it or not, Detroit has made one persons top 10 list, included along with Baghdad, Nuevo Laredo, and Mogadishu.

Are you able to discern a real badge from a fake badge? Now, let’s say you are in the security line at the airport and someone dressed in what appears to be a TSA uniform pulls you aside and says you have been randomly selected for enhanced screening. Do you know how to identify a real TSA agent?

In the early 1900’s, Ivan Pavlov found that dogs could be conditioned to salivate on demand. And now, over 100 years later, airline and hotel program marketing executives continue to test Pavlov’s theories, and have proven that otherwise rational human beings can be made to feel deep pangs of dread when hearing or reading ostensibly positive words and phrases.

Italy gets a lot of love, and deservedly so. But just across the Adriatic Sea resides a country that is on par with Italy in many respects but enjoys far less trumpeting – Croatia. And butting right up alongside Italy is Slovenia – a country that might receive even less fanfare than Croatia.

If Club Carlson was an actor, it would have been featured in “That Guy … Who Was in That Thing”. Travelers posting on Milepoint think the program has a lot going for it – and maybe just a few drawbacks that keep it from making the big time.